Hot Rods Chopped tops . . . . .

Ed Roth cartoons. People don't get it the Roth caricatures were satire, never meant to be design inspiration.

I think that it comes from two different places, some of the old salt cars were chopped to the max. The new millennium hot rodder sees one in a book and thinks that it is how hotrods were built. The other place is just your basic one-upmanship, well he chopped his 4" if I chop mine 5"it will be cooler.

I have seen some with a hard chop that I liked but I am old enough and have enough miles under my belt to know that I would not want to spend a lot of time in it.

 

I saw a guy crawl out of his car at "Burn Out", a few years ago. Funniest thing EVER!

 

That's spectacular! Gary

 

I digitally chopped my Coupe many times on the computer before cutting anything. I wanted it to look chopped but not a "Mail slot". I ended up doing some simple math and unique cuts. I'm 6'-3" so visibility was a major concern.
3.5" cut from the "A" pillars. No lean back. My rear window has a compound glass. Curved both ways. I figured it would very difficult to cut down and expensive if you make a mistake ($600.each) I cut around the rear window and ended up taking 4" out of the back. This enabled me to lean the rear window forward until it reached the roof line.
The "B" pillars were pie cut and leaned forward about 2.25". This is called a "Bonneville Chop" Rear vision is poor so my 4" peep mirrors have a convex mirror stuck on. Full size Dodge Dakota buckets with custom risers work excellent. Have plenty of headroom and don't feel cramped. I would say cozy. I think the proportions worked out perfect for me.

 

Really! OMG!
That's a MAIL-SLIT!

 

yes he didn't bother with glass because he sticks his head out the roof to drive it.

Reminds me of this one. Now if it just had Allison power.

 

I've done several tops. For me it's never about how many inches but more the overall profile. That means what kind of Car is it, Race, Mild Custom, Tail dragging Sled. When it's right we all know it. You can't get there with a fixed number and a tape measure, it's your Eye from 20 feet away. It's like Art or Women, we arn't all going to like the same profiles. We just know what We each like.
The Wizzard

 

My Model A (avatar) is chopped 5", I'm 5'10" and have good visibility (11,000 miles in 2 yrs), I've always loved a fairly heavy chop.

 

Well said!!


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I think you got it backwards. Hot rods started out, at least in large part, expressing attitude...bad ass. Then in the 80's, 90's (beginnings of the smoothie street rod era) we lost the attitude. Everyone thought they wanted to drive a 1934 Lexus and sit in a lawn chair all day. Now we're back to where we belong; badass cars with an attitude and I, for one, could care less how "legal" my cars are. Comfort is another thing but I have a friend who says that "you got to be miserable to have fun" and we're miserable a lot and enjoying the crap out of it.

 

It goes all the way back...I used to think of it as East versus west, but all that is global now.
In the far past, west coast mods tended to be done in the hope of making the car look better. East coast mods were designed to damn well look modified, and modified as much as was physically possible. The vocabulary was almost always MEAN; "That's some mean Coupe!" meant ridiculous channel and chop, and as time went on picked up other stupid MEAN features like zoomy headers partially stifled by motorcycle baffles, dragster front wheels, and cam choices made solely on the basis of comically rough idle.
Look waaay back...lakes roadsters, though ragged, always looked good. There were no generic parts like dropped axles to use, no magazines creating trends, but all those '29's and '32's had excellent stance and general look.
Eastern cars...emerging a bit later and having their own family of magazines...always started out with absurd channel (any idiot with a chisel could do that, and do it without even worrying about a floor or where the steering and pedals went.) After that, anything that could be worked out was done to excess.
Street rodders, later still, had standards of smoothness adding a lot of work into the mix, but often without taste. Chops became perfectly slick, but often with messed up contours above the door line, ribbed roofs, badly thought out slants, all seeming to point back to "Look! I modified the hell out of it!!"

 

You're right, hot rods lost the "hot" and descended into street rods, then into luxo-rods for sure. I'm glad they have regained the hot rod image. My cars have always stayed in the late fifties to mid sixties style. I did do a detour into IFS and IRS on one car but snapped out of it quickly. Most were driven daily to work and stuff. What you didn't find on my cars was suspension bottoming on the frame, mail slot windshields, seats on the floor with no padding, exposed transmissions, holey firewalls or no mufflers. They were fast, clean and fun.
I disagree with the idea that you have to be miserable to have fun. Your friend sounds like some kind of a masochist. As for legality, try driving daily in L.A. After the cops make you late for work or a date enough times, and you pay a half years pay in fix-it tickets and "administrative fees" you tend to compromise with law enforcement. You're lucky you live up there where the population (and law enforcement) isn't as dense.
On the original topic of chops; I'll be chopping my '33 pu 5" and channeling it 2" over '32 rails, fenderless with a 324" Olds, capped lakes headers with Smittys underneath. It should look mean without being a cartoon.

 

It is not about how much , It is about having a sense of style and good taste . If it is cut to the point that your head sticks out the top or you need to be a contortionist to get in and out ,then you have neither. I have seen to many wonderful old cars butchered to be nice about it!!!

 

When the wife asks how she looks, I lie and say" I wouldn't change a thing". When my Oldsmobile asks it's roof looks, I say the same thing only I mean it

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Like this one? Bob

 

"porknbeaner, post: 11902548, member: 1613"]yes he didn't bother with glass because he sticks his head out the roof to drive it.

Reminds me of this one. Now if it just had Allison power.

[/QUOTE]

 

This don't even make a good Cartoon.

 

I paid a $1oo. for my model A coupe, and chopped it 6 inches. Then I drove the wheels off it for over 40 years. You can't believe now many times I've been told that I butchered it. But all that really matters, is what I like, And I do love all old cars. But a heavy chop, no fenders, and a rattle your teeth Hot Rod. That's what I Like. Ed Roth told me, If you have to explain it, they won't understand. So build them the way you like, and then just have FUN!

 

Somes it up very well. For the salt only or drag only fine,its aero. But on the street = not smart or cool. Being old an doing this stuff from back in the 50s my self. I've seen a lot of foolish stuff done,over chop being one. I have found it's done no good too tell young guys that love over chop {for the most part}that if you make it nearly undriveible,they will not drive it much an just sell it. This just keeps happening tell its junk or some one puts the top back up some and saves the car. Rule of thum would be OK street driveible, is about 8in. of winshield open glass or more.

 

I liked this one I had for 10years , it was chopped about 4".

 

If you chop your top, don't roll it over, they don't hold up well!! My first hot rod, circa 1962.

 

All my thoughts have been mentioned here. I have been thinking though, a guy should start collecting all the roofs he can find from otherwise junk bodies. The next generation will be looking for them to save some of these over-chopped bodies.
As side note i have chopped many cars and pick ups in my time, both for myself and others, but my A stays un-cut. I think it's because i've seen so many chopped that a stock roof just looks better to me now.

 

I say cut as many brookville or repop cars as you want but why are guys gutting really nice old gennie cars 8-10"?

Where/ when did the mega wedge chop thing start? It's become kinda ridiculous .. Seems to go hand in hand with fake race numbers on the doors ...

 

In BC in the '50's cops used a cigarette package to measure windshield height.

 

Hi Pete,
Great question and thought!
When I took my 32 Coupe over to Thunder Road Rod & Custom in Mansfield, Ohio (ph. 419-522-4712) to have it chopped Pat actually made me sit inside on some crates. Then he took a long piece of cardboard and started at top and slowly moved it down and kept asking what I felt comfortable with. I think we ended up chopping it about 2 3/4 to 3 inches. I can tell you after driving it for a couple years I'm so glad I didn't go more. The aggressive chops do look cool but are very impractical and unsafe for todays driving.

A couple of other thoughts. Keep the chopped pieces and put them in a box so marked. Pat actually had a customer come in a year later and ask him to reverse a chop and I was able to supply the needed parts! And by the way Pat and Zach at Thunder Road Rod Shop are great old school guys to do a build with!! I now wonder if a properly channeled coupe instead of a chop might be easier? With all this said, I simply enjoy driving my 32 roadster a lot more than the coupe. The openness of the roadster just cant be matched!

Here are a couple photos and more at my blog: https://ontheroadtonowhereville.wordpress.com/

High Noon Speed Shop - Baltic, Ohio





Thanks HAMB!

 

My Vicky is chopped 2-1/4 inches. I wish I had gone another inch looks wise, but because I'm 6'2", my height, visibility and driving comfort dictated the amount of chop for me. As far as chops go, it's definitely on the conservative side.

 

You survived this!!!!????? Wow. Glad you came out okay.

 

This is just plain stupid. Should be illegal.

 

It's a Drag Rod, And It is.